Black And Dirty

[JimT]

Went to the Range the other day and spent time getting dirty! Three blackpowder guns and shooting mostly my paper cartridges that I had loaded. I learned from John Taffin that paper cartridges and a capping tool really speeds up the shooting of percussion pistols. I ran about 75 or 80 rounds through the guns that day. And BOY! Were they ever dirty! I spent more time cleaning them afterwards than I did shooting them. But I don't mind doing that. For me it's not a chore.

1862 Police Model .36 caliber

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I managed to put 3 shots together and pull 2 out. With all 3 guns I had a difficult time seeing the brass bead in the bright sunlight. I was shooting basically into the sunlight and that did not help. And yes. I am making excuses. At my age I need to.

3rd Model Dragoon .44 caliber

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1851 Navy .36 caliber

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The 1851 was brand new .. a birthday present to myself. I ordered it directly from EMF as they have them on sale at a good price. Out of the box it has a great trigger pull .. no creep, nice letoff. When I tore the gun down to clean it I found it very well finished on the inside, which surprised me. The cylinder hand and bolt are polished and shiny ... the milled area where the cylinder hand runs is finished smoothly. And the gun is accurate ... better than I am shooting it. Made by Pietta.

It did not come looking like this. I "antiqued" it myself. Out of the box it looked like this:

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BUT I had determined before I got it that I was gonna make it look more like an old one.

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I am really liking this smokey thing! Fun to shoot and pretty accurate with any powder charge I have tried.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Very nice Jim.

[Old Savage]

My great grandfather and his father were both in the Civil War. Bought an 1860 Army in remembrance. Shot it once and thoroughly cleaned it. That was it. Also have a Ruger Old Army with a 45 Cylinder.

[piller]

Looks like fun, Jim. Now I understand why it got cloudy here. You were sending out smoke, and we had a wind blowing right up I35 from the South a couple of days ago.

[Griff]

Ahhh... Colt's Belt Model of 1851... I think the most elegant of Colt's many revolvers. I hope I like them:

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From the top: Colt Signature Series, 31,xxx
Colt 2nd Gen, 25,xxx
ASM, assembled from left over Uberti parts from Colt 2nd Series, purchased new from EMF in mid 1986.
Colt 2nd Gen, 21,xxx
Colt 2nd Gen 7,xxx

And then today I just purchased a 4th Colt 2nd Gen, also a 4 digit, but a couple hundred off from the one above... (no MM93 luck here!)... It and the 2nd from the top will go to a local smith to have the Ruger Plunger & hand spring & Manhattan Conversion done to match the others... so they'll become backups to my backups!

This is the Manhattan Conversion:

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Keeps spent caps out of the lockwork. Makes for an ultra reliable C & B revolver. If I weren't such a fumble fingered oaf, I'd try those paper cartridges... but all my previous efforts were kaput!

[JimT]

Nice collection! That Manhattan conversion is interesting.

[Griff]

When I first started competing with an 1851 (the ASM), I'd often find quite a few spent caps flattened out against the back of the recoil shield, smashed flat by the hammer... after they built up they'd hold the hammer off the nipple and wouldn't allow it set the cap off. After the Manhattan conversion, that stopped. The other thing that helps is using Treso nipples. Their nipples are of a harder metal than the factory nipples, I haven't had any mushrooming of the nipples after using them. Plus the sides of the nipples are vented and do a good job of spreading out the cap, and with the narrowed gate, they can't fall into the lockwork. I've actually run my main match pair for a 3-day match without any attention at all. Put them away at the end of the day's shooting, and load them up again the next. In fact, for the 2021 match I shot in two categories that required C&B revolvers and did the same. I often get questions about how I seem to have very few issues with my cap guns... I actually can trace any that I do have back to my loading. Getting interrupted during the process IS a distraction and never a good thing!

[Bill in Oregon]

Griff, I have had Tresos -- and Slixshots. What do you think of the latter?

[Griff]

Griff, I have had Tresos -- and Slixshots. What do you think of the latter?

Excellent... In fact I have a couple of packages to install, replacing some of the older Tresos. I have used them also with great results. In fact, those are what I'll be installing on the two "backup" pistols.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Griff]

Re. manhattan conversion.....I found this foto.
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The o.p. wrote that it is just sheet metal and jb weld.

Yea, I've seen those, but I like the thicker jobs like mine... just because! I've also seen some revolvers where the owner drilled a hole in the top of the hammer channel, put in a piece of drill and cut a corresponding slot in the hammer face. Just how well those work? I don't know...